Well, after setting their final 53-man roster, the group that will attempt to repeat came into sharper focus. The Giants yesterday made no earth-shattering player moves but they did leave themselves with only two quarterbacks, Eli Manning and David Carr, which Tom Coughlin admits is “a calculated risk.”

It was not only a day for subtractions. Mindful of the left knee injury to Lawrence Tynes, 44-year old John Carney was signed to handle the place-kicking duties in Thursday night’s season-opener against the Redskins.

For now, the Giants must allocate two precious roster spots for kickers and they borrowed from the quarterback position to make the numbers fit. Anthony Wright (back) was placed on season-ending injured reserve and, in a surprise, rookie Andre’ Woodson was cut. A third quarterback might be added in the coming weeks.

“We’ll see how that goes,” Coughlin said. “We studied all the numbers. There’s a 90 percent assurance you never get beyond the one [backup] quarterback.”

It was assumed that Woodson, selected out of Kentucky in the sixth round of the NFL Draft as a developmental prospect, would almost automatically make the club as the No. 3 quarterback. He did not show much in training camp but did take baby-steps forward as far as improvement. He hit rock bottom, though, last Saturday night in the final preseason game, when he fumbled two snaps on his first three plays, prompting Coughlin to make the rare move of yanking him on the spot.

Two other players were placed on injured reserve. The Giants in the preseason finale lost their top offensive tackle reserve, Guy Whimper, to a season-ending broken foot. Rookie center Digger Bujnoch (sprained knee) also went on IR.

A year ago, first-year general manager Jerry Reese went 8-for-8 as far as every draft pick making the roster. Reese’s batting average dipped slightly in his second year, with only five of the seven making it this time around. In addition to Woodson, defensive end Robert Henderson (seventh round) barely made it out of training camp.

There are 14 players (26.4 percent) on this team who were not on the 53-man roster for Super Bowl XLII.

“I like this squad a lot,” Reese said. “Number one, we have talented players, number two, I believe they’re focused and still hungry with something to prove.”

There were a few mild upsets. Both veteran cornerbacks, Sam Madison, 34, and R.W. McQuarters, 31, survived, leaving the team with six corners. With four safeties on the roster, the Giants used 10 roster spots in the defensive backfield. Also, six running backs were kept, including Reuben Droughns, who was thought to be on the bubble with the emergence of younger Danny Ware, who made the team.

“There isn’t any doubt about them being good players,” Coughlin said. “They’re veteran players and they’ve seen an awful lot in this game and they’ve been able to react to it. From the standpoint of Reuben, we have a pretty good group of guys at running back and felt like they were all worthy of making an NFL team and they have so many roles that they can play. Reuben can be a fullback, he can be a running back, he can be a special teams player, he can be a short-yardage and goal line guy. He has a lot of hats he can wear.”

Based on his fine summer, receiver Domenik Hixon was a lock and clearly, the coaching staff thought enough of the work in camp of Sinorice Moss to also keep him around as the sixth receiver. That David Tyree starts the season on the Physically Unable to Perform list no doubt also helped Moss stick.

It figured that as the Super Bowl champions it would not be easy to crack the roster and indeed, not one undrafted rookie free agent made the cut. The greatest long-shot might be Rodney Leisle, a defensive tackle with limited experience in three years with the Saints.